Nose bite suspect was out on bail

June 1999

A man questioned in connection with the horrific weekend assault in which a local man had a part of his nose bitten off had been sentenced to prison just three months ago.

The individual, who was arrested a short time after the incident at the Abrakebabra takeaway on Quinsboro Road, was sentenced to two yers imprisonment at Bray Court in March, but is currently on bail pending appeal.

And the suspect, a local man in his early 30s, served a long period of incarceration in the 1980s in connection with a joyriding incident in which a local cyclist was killed.

The vicious attack occurred at the fast food restaurant in the early hours of Monday morning.

Surgeons failed in their bid to reattach a piece of the man’s nose, which had been bitten off.

According to eyewitnesses, the attacker lunged at the victim as he queued in the takeaway and bit a portion of his nose clean off before spitting it on to the floor.

The injured man, who had been playing with a traditional group at a nearby pub, was removed by ambulance to Loughlinstown Hospital.

A local woman had the presence of mind to pick up the severed piece of nose and had it backed in ice by staff.

‘I was just sitting there with a friend when suddenly all hell broke loose,’ she said. ‘ There seemed to be a brief exchange of words and then this guy just lunged. Afterwards he was just standing there gloating and he had blood running down his chin.’

According to reports, the assailant was bundled by a security man into the toilets on the premises while gardaí were summoned. An arrest was made a short time later.

The weekend attack, and the extensive publicity which it attracted in the national media, was a devastating blow to a community which has been anxious to project a more positive image of the town which has frequently been portrayed as crime-ravaged and violent.